The traditional Nursery Rhymes and Children's Songs were
the obvious starting point for this work. Most of the texts
in this book. are taken from these sources. The tonality is
limited to the pentatonic scale. In this, where the musical
limitations correspond to their own mentality, small
children will be able to express themselves easily without
being in danger of leaning on the strong examples of other
music.

The tonality begins with the two-note call (Cuckoo,
Name-calling); then other notes are added. The melodic Row
finds its natural accompaniment in Ostinato and Drone (which
are diametrically opposed to the use of all cadences of the
major scale) the use of which leads quite naturally later to
a simple polyphony.

The use of special instruments facilitates the entry into
this early world of sound. The following form the basis:

The glockenspiel is played with wooden sticks the
xylophone (unless marked otherwise) with rubber covered
sticks.

For their use In pentatonic music the F and B keys (metal
or wooden bars) are removed.

Ordinary drinking or wine-glasses of different size and
thickness are used. Should it not be possible to find
glasses giving the exact pitch, those sounding slightly
sharp can be tuned down to the extent of about a semi-tone
by filling them with water. Glasses are also played with
wooden sticks.

PERCUSSION

If some instruments are not available, similar ones may
be used.

TRIANGLE in various sizes

TINY CYMBALS in various sizes

CYMBALS in various sizes

SLEIGH-BELLS
(These can be made by sewing tiny bells to rubber or leather
strips.)

TAMBOURINE

DRUMS (with one or two skins; with and without
snares)

WOOD BLOCKS (in various sizes)

SAND RATTLES
(easily made from wooden. earthen-ware or tin-boxes, filled
with sand etc.)

CASTANETS

SMALL HAND DRUMS, KETTLE DRUMS and BIG DRUM

RECORDERS, LUTES and GUITARS may also be used.

To keep the ensemble together and for the playing of
drones a bass instrument is added, preferably a viola da
gamba or violoncello, possibly a viola or violin. This is
always just called "Bass".

The use of the piano (as against the old keyboard
instruments such as harpsi-chord, clavichord or spinet) is
to be deplored as it bars the way towards the tonal and
stylistic originality of this kind of music-making. Even
more so mouth-organs or accordeons.

The three parts 1) Nursery Rhymes and Songs, 2) Rhythmic
and Melodic Exercises and 3) Instrumental Pieces are
complementary to each other and should be used together from
the start. Thus immediately after the early nursery rhymes
(Cuckoo, Pat-a-cake, Tinker tailor etc.) the first speech
exercises, clapping and ostinato exercises should be
attempted.

In order to achieve freedom in performance the children
must play from memory. The teacher should nevertheless
instruct them in musical notation right from the beginning,
starting with the speech exercises where only rhythmic
notation is necessary. At first musical notation should
primarily be used to write down original inventions of
melody and rhythm.

The playing of even the simplest instruments requires
proper instruction and practice. Especially a sense of sound
and ensemble must be aimed at and practised. In this way a
basis for all later music-making and interpretation will be
achieved; that is to say, a proper understanding of the
language and expression of music. This volume represents the
first steps towards this aim.

Preface by Walter
Jellinek, London 1957

In the 1930's Carl Orff had
occasion to give music instruction to children. Out of that
work the idea of this volume originated. Its aim can be
summed up as follows:

1) It is intended for all children
of all grades of musical intelligence.

2) It is in no sense purely musical
instruction but represents also a natural outlet for the
energy stored up within the ever-growing bodies of children.
At the same time it require the child to use its
mind.

3) The demand on the child's
faculties is graded to suit individual capabilities. Thus an
exceptionally gifted child can invent a melody on one of the
more difficult instruments, while the others can be occupied
to the same extent of their ability, keeping a simple
accompaniment going, if need be, by just clapping their
hands once in a bar. In this way a cooperation among the
group of children is obtained which practically no other
work with children can achieve.

4) The exercise of rhythm, which
belongs to all life, is beneficial to all children. They are
moreover encouraged to listen to the sounds which they
themselves produce, thereby developing a sense of tonal
beauty, which is sadly missing in this age of noise. A sense
of form, humour and the spoken word is also inherent in this
work.

For those children who are
exceptionally musical this volume will provide an
in-valuable basis when they come to take up other musical
activities in the usual way.

No attempt has been made in this
English. version to keep rigidly to the original German
texts or to traditional English tunes. No apology is made
for either, because a way has been sought to follow the
principle of Carl Orff's theories.

The second volume of "Music for Children" deals with the
first two parts of the exercises in the major scale: Drone
bass and triads. It follows volume one "Pentatonic", which
repre-sents the basic introduction for the present volume.
It is scored for the same instrumental ensemble, and it is
important that real musical instruments, and not musical
toys are used. This volume contains mostly songs and
instrumental pieces. For "Rhythmic Exercises" those in
volume one should be continued.

December 1951 Carl Orff

Volume III of "Music for Children" explores the realm of
the dominant and subdominant triads. The use of these triads
has been implied in many of the exercises in the earlier
volumes, although these were built on drone bass and
ostinato figures. Now, the use of the dominant and
subdominant is consciously opposed to a drone bass
foundation without entirely excluding the latter.

Practice with the dominant leads to familiar musical
ground, nevertheless it is taken for granted that the
previous exercises have so developed and established a
feeling for style, that it will be possible, particularly in
the field of improvisation, to avoid slipping into
con-ventional patterns.

The rhythmic exercises in volume one should now be
further exploited.

December 1952 Carl Orff

The fourth volume of "Music for Children" introduces a
new world of sound: Minor. The choice of texts demonstrates
a wider range of experience and feeling. Material suitable
for early childhood has been left behind and there is
considerable use of folk song.

Practice in minor keys begins with drone bass and triads
just as it did in major keys. In the fifth volume the
progression is continued with the dominant and subdominant
triads and is then brought to a conclusion.

While in the volumes dealing with the major scale only
the lonian mode form was used, in the realm of the minor
scale the Aeolian, Dorian and Phrygian modes, with their
special significance within the diatonic framework of
Schulwerk, are thoroughly explored.

The rhythmic exercises in volume five should be practised
concurrently with this volume.

Carl Orff

The fifth and last volume of "Music for Children" covers
the use of the dominant and subdominant triads in minor
keys; with this we have completed the elementary harmonic
foundations of the seven-note scale.

The exercises using the leading note over a drone bass,
that are to be found in the instructions and notes, require
particular attention. The further development of rhythmic
exercises and pieces using speech material are complementary
to the previous volumes and complete the whole work.

The five volumes contain the experiences from nearly
thirty years' work. Nevertheless this first attempt to lay
the foundations in print can only include a fragment of the
inherent possibilities. To avoid the danger of diffusion,
and in order not to disturb the structural unity of the work
as a whole, many ideas have been barely suggested, and
countless sources of material have had to be omitted.

May this be a stimulant and starting point for those
teachers that follow. It has been written for the young and
to them it is dedicated.

Easter 1954 Carl Orff

Carl Orf with Gunild Keetman 1980

from Carl Orff Fotodokumente by Werner
Thomas

Invitation to Creativity:
A Brief Survey of Volume I of Music for Children

by Catherine West,
Toronto

Reprinted from the Canadian Orff
Newsletter Vol.26 No.3, April 2000

References are to the Margaret Murray edition except
where noted.

As a teacher of both children and level one pedagogy at
the Royal Conservatory's Orff Levels Courses, I have
explored the enchantments of this Volume many times - yet
there is always something awaiting me on the next occasion
that I hadn't noticed before. The book is full of
orchestrations which are worth playing exactly as notated,
and we often do this in the teachers' course.

One piece that I love to do with students is "Unk,
unk, unk" (p. 12) - especially at Hallowe'en, usually
with grade fives; the children love this lugubrious song and
willingly sing the solo for the water witch (boys too!).

The elaborate orchestration is quite magical; it switches
with each section of the piece but is based on simple time
values which do not present great difficulty. I can imagine
fitting this piece into a dramatic presentation of a fairy
tale or just presenting it on its own in dramatic form.
Another piece which bears learning in total - or almost - is
the marvellous "Allegro" on page 123, which most of
us know affectionately as "Hiya" Students who learn
the soprano xylophone part invariably play it ever
afterwards whenever their hands stray near an instrument
(think of it as "Heart and Soul" for Orff lovers!). Any
students who find this part difficult are able to take a
less demanding part of which there are plenty in this
marvellous piece.

However, like most teachers, I rarely teach the pieces as
written. We know that these books were written in the spirit
of invitation; indeed many of the pieces such as the
rhythms, nursery rhymes, etc. come with the command that we
"do something with this". There are many pieces in question
and answer form, and changing the answer to something else
through improvisation is always an option. Look at
"Little Boy Blue" (p. 20), "Where are you going
to, my pretty maid?" (p. 29), or many of the
instrumental pieces, for example, the one on page 98. The
"Melodies to be completed" (p. 79), give us many
models for responses. By confining the improvisation to the
pentatonic tone set, the results are guaranteed to be
acceptable and students can be encouraged to listen for the
most effective solutions. Improvisations can be sung -
children love to sing Wee Willie Winkie's excuses for not
being in bed when he is supposed to be (p. 7) - or played on
an instrument, pitched or nonpitched.

Orff teaches us a lot about preparing opportunities for
improvisations and solos; looking again at "Little Boy
Blue", notice the four bar gap between the tutti and the
solo. We find this gap in several of the rondos, for
example, on pages 111, 113 and 116. It is hugely helpful for
children not to have to leap into the improv. straight from
the theme - the little break gives them time for mental
clarity and to feel the beat before their entry (I think of
how many times I have had to introduce a breather like this,
into pieces that do not have one already). Of course, the
gap does not have to be very different material as it often
is in these pieces - one can just drop out some ostinati and
continue with a bass line or something equally simple.

The rondos are quite clearly written, with
improvisation examples as episodes - seethe note on page
143. The melodies are often infectious and the suggestions
for episodes imaginative, such as the whistling episode on
page 116. Always teach the theme in skeleton form (i.e. just
the macrobeats) and then encourage students to decide for
themselves when they are ready to add the divisions of the
beat, passing notes etc. This way all the students can play
a version of the whole piece which is acceptable, and all
students should be working at a level which is a personal
challenge. Remember to include as many types of
improvisations as possible and to exploit whatever talents
your students possess - this is the place to try a non-Orff
instrument solo, some creative movement or some student
poetry.

I would like to draw attention to the wonderful canons
in this volume. Most teachers are familiar with the
marvellous "Ding, dong, diggidiggidong" canon on page
24 (how could we teach sixteenth notes without it?!). Do not
overlook some other treasures - most have an irresistible
hook for kids - the glissando on page 131 or the challenge
of a canon at a one beat delay on page 122. This canon also
invites a solo improvisation (replace bars 9 and 10), which
the other students echo in bars 11 and 12. For an added
challenge have the soloist repeat his/her own improvisation
at 13 and 14 and the other students echo it again. Return to
the canon and repeat the whole process with a new
soloist.

The "Rhythmic canons" (p. 74) and "Canon
exercises" (p. 91) have footnotes (pp. 142, 143), which
ask us not to teach the canon as a whole but to treat it
immediately as an imitative exercise. (These canons all have
long held notes which allow students to "hear ahead"). They
may be clapped, sung or played and clearly both teacher and
students are encouraged to improvise similar canons.

Use these canons to develop in students an awareness of
what makes polyphonic texture interesting - the
complementary design. To put it simply, when something
happens in one part, perhaps a quarter note, something
contrasting should be happening in another part, perhaps two
eighth notes. Have students write pentatonic canons and
listen for places where the complementarity succeeds - or
where it collapses into unison sound for lack of contrast.
Once students start to explore canon this way, they become
highly critical listeners and are eager to try all sorts of
things in canon, poems, songs etc. Allow them to explore
different lengths of delay and to listen critically to the
results, what is most effective and why I extend this
activity into our listening work and have students listen to
one of Bach's two-part inventions while following a score;
the design is spectacularly regular in contrasting elements
of rhythm, pitch etc. (It is worth noting that Bach wrote
these to teach his sons how to write, not how to play,
imitative textures).

I cannot leave this quick survey of the treasures of this
book without a mention of the rhythmic accompaniments. Pages
53 to 78 are full of wonderful ideas and should not be
overlooked. The body percussion accompaniments for "My
little pony" (p. 72) and "Old Angus McTavish" (p.
73) are highly effective - but the schemes are
over-elaborate for most of our purposes and beg to be
simplified.

There are some beautiful song materials in the Doreen
Hall/ Arnold Walter edition which do not appear in Murray's,
and some preferable words for songs that are found in both.
Orff teachers should own both editions.

On revisiting the Hall/Walter edition, I find song after
song which I use regularly. "Little Robin Redbreast"
(p. 10) is a cherished game in my kindergarten classes. The
children sing the solo "Thank you for my tea", and then fly
away to the cherry tree. "Mother may I go and bathe?"
(p. 13) appeals to children's love of corny jokes. Tell
other jokes as interludes. I used "Dame, get up and bake
your pies" (p. 15) as the A section of a seasonal rondo
which included "Little Jack Horner", "I saw three ships" and
some glockenspiel improvisation, plus a few appropriate
props such as mixing bowls and aprons'.

"A star" (p. 17), and "Riddle, riddle, riddle
me" (p. 38) invite creative settings of old riddles and
sayings, an ideal junior class activity. (Fowke's Ring
Around the Moon is an excellent sourcebook.) "The day is
now over" (p. 19, Hall and Murray), is a beautiful
lullaby which appears in both editions I use nonreligious
words:

The day is now over, the moon shines so
bright

All the children are going upstairs for the
night.

Little birds in the trees hide their heads in
their wings

While Mama (or Papa) comes up to the bedroom and
sings.

I have no record of whose version this is - let me know
if you know! An improvised conversation (in pentatonic)
between parent and child is a natural interlude.

"The bells in the steeple" (p. 36, Hall) is an
exquisite version of the song that is Murray's "Farewell
to the old year" (p. 32). Both have the same enchanting
orchestration and a B section of rainstorm sounds can be
developed. Both editions feature the rollicking song (with
pitched percussion or body percussion accompaniment), which
is "Old Mister Mulrooney" in Hall (song p.40, bp
p.75)) and "Old Angus McTavish" in Murray (song p.37,
bp p.73). There are many more wonderful songs in the
Hall/Walter edition - if you do not own it, you should!

Songs such as "Boomfallera" (p. 44, Murray) may be
transposed if your classroom choir sounds less than
wonderful on high G. Often, moving songs up from C to D or
even F major is preferable in terms of children's vocal
register. Remember that Orff and Keetman had no bass
xylophone or metallophones when these orchestrations were
written - give the "glasses" parts to metallophones and add
or adapt bass lines as needed. Orff mentions in his
introduction that "The use of the piano is to be
deplored " and "Even more so mouth-organs or
accordions."!

In deciding what to use, and how, Music for
Children gives us plenty of ammunition and
permission. Cut the cloth according to your own cloak, and
only teach the parts from the book which support your goals.
If improvisation is the experience you want your students to
have, make sure that you do not spend six weeks learning ten
different ostinati for a song so that in week seven the
children are allowed to improvise only once. I speak from
personal experience and regret! However, if reading notation
is a goal for your class, the time will be well spent
reading those ostinati, or perhaps writing others. (It is
worth noting that Orff specifies, in his introduction, that
the teacher should teach students musical notation from the
very beginning, with the emphasis being on writing down
their own creations.) Spend the time on the most important
learning and minimize the time spent on other aspects.

In closing, I want to draw attention to the lyrical
beauty of some of these settings, a beauty that is found
widely in the other volumes, but is a greatly needed
antidote to so many witty little themes in C pentatonic here
in Volume 1. The "Tranquillo" on page 106 is lovely,
as is that on page 110. These melodies sound well on
recorder and are also open to adding lyrics.

The challenge
Orff offers us as teachers is a wonderful vocabulary to
imitate. Use and enjoy it!

Catherine West, B.A. Hons, B. Ed., A.R.C.T., Orff
Cert., is a music specialist with the Toronto District
School Board where she teaches in two K-6 schools. She
trained as a piano and early childhood music teacher at The
Royal Conservatory of Music and has extensive experience in
private music schools and as an Orff Specialist for the
former Toronto Board of Education. She teaches Orff pedagogy
Level One at The Royal Conservatory of Music every summer
and is an active advocate for music education. Catherine is
past president of the Ontario Chapter. Her infectious
enthusiasm as a teacher and for the Orff approach is very
evident in this article.